


head over heels

by padawin



Series: ways to love [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Getting Together, M/M, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Keith (Voltron), Oblivious Lance (Voltron), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Shiro is Tired, antis stay away pls, broganes AU, hardcore pining, hunk just wants his bro to be happy, i still don't know how to properly tag, pidge is tired too, shiro and keith are roommates, shiro's pov, so much pining o my god, still can't believe those are actual tags but of course they are, they're oblivious morons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-16 04:41:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11821440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/padawin/pseuds/padawin
Summary: A sequel to "ways to fall"!There are many ways to fall in love. Sometimes it happens immediately and sometimes it happens gradually. And sometimes all you need is a little push. Literally.(ON HIATUS)





	head over heels

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly wasn't sure if I was planning a sequel or to continue this at all hahaha but I had this idea of writing Shiro's POV and how this could continue and your comments motivated me to actually do it :'D so, here it is, the sequel to "ways to fall"! Three chapters are planned, the first one is Shiro's POV but the other two are Keith's and Lance's POVs and there'll be more actual klance, I promise!

There were many ways to fall in love with someone.

And of course Keith had chosen the most ridiculous way to do so. Or, well, if he had had the chance to _choose_ he would have chosen to not fall in love at all. Keith was like that, usually choosing to avoid feelings. Or, maybe, he would have chosen to fall in love with the type of guy that he had described that one night when they were drunk off their asses on the party of the chemistry faculty.

 

_“You know what kinda guy I should fall for? Some dorky idiot that’s like twice my size, and taller than me and… and, and, strong with like these huge strong arms that’ll hug you real tight and make you feel safe. And this strong chest that’s also soft. And he should have pretty eyes and, and, maybe some kind of unique haircut or something… and, he should go to the gym every sunday morning at 4am but be a little pissbaby about getting up at the morning every other day. And be super grumpy, practically a zombie before coffee then we could be zombies together or something. And, … and maybe he should be into space, too, and into flying, too, even though he can’t anymore. And… and maybe he should secretly be into stupid Taylor Swift but never admit it, not even to himself, even though he sings Blank Space under the shower every morning, so much and loudly that even though I fucking hate Taylor Swift’s music I can sign that stupid song by heart now….” Keith sighed heavily and curled up on the couch where he sat, pulling up his knees and hugging them. There was a flush on his face from the alcohol in his system, but Shiro suspected his glassy, dreamy gaze that he directed at him wasn’t due to the alcohol but because Keith was deep in thought. They held gazes, Shiro couldn’t have looked away if he wanted to. In his drunken state he realised how beautiful Keith’s eyes were. You never knew what colour exactly they were. Were they blue? Or gray? Or violet? Or just black? A beautiful mystery that you could only discover if you came close enough, just like Keith himself was a mystery you only knew he was when you got close to him. Close like Shiro was with him._

_But Shiro also knew he had long missed his chance._

_“And, maybe he should have this cute little mole on his hip that looks round like the moon with those other little moles around it like stars…. And he thinks I don’t know they’re there but I still remember fromt hat one time I saw them…” Keith’s voice decreased in volume until it was murmured into his red plastic cup, and he took a sip, looking away. “Anyway, or maybe he should just be nice. And honest with me. I think that’s all I want.”_

 

Shiro remembered that conversation well, even though he barely remembered anything that happened before or after it. He was sure that the shock of having Keith’s feelings for him spelled out so openly had sobered him up but he also knew Keith had dropped the conversation topic right after he had spilled the words out. The description of Keith’s perfect man had been too similar to Shiro for comfort and by now, months after that incident, Shiro regretted not having brought it up again to sort it out. One day soon Shiro would have to do that, but for now he preferred ignoring that part of their friendship. For now.

Keith and him were close, very close, they had known since they were children and Keith had moved in with his dad in the house next door, but Keith was also the type that didn’t want to worry others with his problems and was scared of what his close ones would think of him if he admitted to his ugly sides. Shiro couldn’t blame him and always tried to show to Keith that, no matter what, Shiro would always be there for him.

Well, and this was _the_ time to be there for Keith, because besides all that Keith was, he was also incredibly stubborn. Everyone had their strengths and weaknesses and one of Keith’s biggest weakness was that he didn’t know how to deal with romantic feelings. He usually bottled them up unless he knew for absolutely certain that his feelings were reciprocated. Time and again Shiro had tried to move Keith into making the first move but until now it really hadn’t worked out. Even when Keith finally did get up to ask that cute waiter for his number, or buy that other attractive guy a drink, he always found a way to back out. Ask for another coffee, ask if he knew where the bathroom was.

This time (really like any other time, though) Shiro was set out to make this work. _Somehow_ he would get Keith to talk to this guy that he always talked about. Because if he had to listen to Keith swooning over _The Guy’s_ eyes (“They’re like oceans. And I wanna drown in them.”), or how he wanted to mess up that perfect-looking hair with his hands since he had seen that guy come hungover to a morning lecture (“Takashi, _how_ is it possible to look so good when you’re fucking hungover?!”), Shiro would go crazy.

But for his plan to work he first needed to find out who _The Guy_ was. From the description Keith gave him it didn’t seem to be anyone Shiro knew. Well, then again, how accurate was the description of a lovestruck boy? He didn’t know if _The Guy_ really was tall, dark, and handsome with eyes blue like the ocean, a laugh like silver bells, with soft-looking hair, and long legs that went on for miles and- In the end, if you took away Keith’s rosy red heart-shaped love-goggles it seemed to Shiro that this guy Keith had fallen for was painfully average, actually. So there was a problem with that. Many tall guys with brown hair and blue eyes existed. And suddenly Shiro wondered if it was worth it suffering through one of Keith’s math lectures just to get a glimpse of _The Guy_.

But apparently life or fate or destiny or whatever was on Shiro’s side because when he went to pick up Keith to go to their next lectures together, Mr. Tall Dark And Handsome was actually there. Or so it seemed when Keith looked up to greet Shiro but instead froze up, eyes wide, cheeks heating up, gaze glued to a boy across the hall at a table. Shiro immediately recognised that look and had to laugh. O this was working out a little too easy.

Or, well, _it wasn’t easy._ Because turns out that Keith did something worse than avoid the conflict altogether: _Pick a fight._ And _The Guy_ , who they now knew was Lance, for some odd reason, decided to engage. Shiro wanted death. For either himself or these two idiots. But instead it ended up with him somehow managing to defuse the bomb and drag Keith away before it could explode.

“O my god, _let go_ !” Obviously Keith struggled, but Shiro managed to keep his grip on Keith’s arm until they were out of sight. It was then that he loosened his hold and Keith was able to free himself. “Why is _The Guy_ such an-”

“Keith, _The Guy_ -” Shiro lifted his right hand to gesture quotation marks into the air. “,has a name now, and he’s Lance.” They hadn’t had a name to put on the stranger before and Keith somehow found a habit in calling him _The Guy_ because, obviously, firstly he would refuse to acknowledge his crush on him. So he had refused to call him “his crush”. Keith was lucky that he was good at hiding his emotions unless it was to someone like Shiro who knew him too well to be fooled. “I can’t believe you had a crush on Lance, why didn’t you tell me? I could have introduced you!” And avoid the disaster that just happened. Shiro could only hope that Keith’s first impression wouldn’t have devastating consequences.

If these two idiots managed to avoid a conversation topic that set off Keith’s temper then Lance would see what a nice guy Keith actually was. Because that he _was_ . He could be funny, his obliviousness and slow understanding of most jokes and innuendos was hilarious, both Keith and Lance were into flying (Keith’s dad was a pilot and had taught him a few things, and Lance, as far as Shiro knew, was actually taking flight lessons). Keith was genuinely a nice guy. And Lance was outgoing and obnoxious, socially the complete opposite of Keith actually, but he was also considerate. Shiro had seen how Lance interacted with his acquaintances who were more on the shy side. There was a reason Lance was the type who typically got along with _everyone_ somehow. He befriended people wherever he went, seemingly without major effort. So Shiro had been completely unprepared for the clash of sides from before. It was almost like Lance had purposely said things to set Keith off.

Shiro sighed and looked back at Keith, who was giving him a displeased glare. Shiro knew, though, that it was a glare caused by the aftermath of the argument before rather than him being mad at Shiro. “Well, maybe that’s because I didn’t _know_ he was Lance and that you knew him!” Well, Keith did have a point there. He gave a frustrated sigh. “Or maybe it’s just because you’re fucking embarrassing.”

Shiro gasped soundlessly, frowning. “I might be embarrassing, but at least you are one step closer than you were half a year ago.” A whole semester! Shiro still couldn’t believe how big of an idiot Keith was if he had pined after some guy for a whole semester without making a move. How dumb did you have to be? “At least now you can actually talk to him without it being weird. I give you full permission to use me as an excuse and a connection to talk to him.”

Keith just stared at him with disbelief. Shiro didn’t understand what Keith was thinking right now, he often didn’t. But he guessed that his plan of Keith talking to Lance with Shiro as an excuse apparently wasn’t a good enough idea in Keith’s eyes. Or maybe it was something else entirely that Shiro couldn’t grasp. Who knew what was going on in that complicated head of his. Keith dropped the glare and let his shoulders drop in surrender.

“Ugh, c’mon, let’s just go to the lecture.”

With a sigh, Shiro obliged and followed Keith in the direction of the chemistry building.

 

\--

 

The next morning came and Shiro barely made it out of bed. If it weren’t for Keith yanking his fluffy blanket off and leaving Shiro bare to the cold air coming through his always opened window, he would have stayed there. Forever. Or until he had to get up to pee.

And that’s how Shiro did find his way to the lecture hall for another painful physics lecture with a bag of chocolate to make the agony a tiny bit more bearable. As always in Professor Slav’s lectures he planned to sit in the far back, where he could only see the Power-Point slides and not hear the professor talk since most of the important information was written rather clearly on the slides anyway. Thank god.

But this time, before he could reach his favourite spot, he spotted a group of three people. He recognised two of them immediately, Lance and Katie Holt, the younger sister of one of Shiro’s friends. Shiro, Keith, and the Holts knew each other due to having been neighbours for a couple years. The third young man who Shiro didn’t recognise stood out the most, though, due to his size. Shiro couldn’t see his face since the three of them had their backs turned to him.

It was a decision that lasted only a split second but suddenly Shiro was hurrying down the stairs of the lecture hall to the middle row of seats. Fortunately, they sat down in front of a row of completely empty seats which Shiro sat in. The trio didn’t notice him, too engulfed in their own conversation.

“-And then, you know what I said? I said _I can’t believe you’re Voltron meme trash._ ” Lance grabbed his hair and mussed it up, but when he let his hands fall again his hairdo stayed the same as before. Huh, Keith hadn’t been wrong about Lance’s hair apparently. It _did_ always look flawless. “And then, of course, he insisted that Voltron was a good tv show. And then… and then I said I thought it was bad.”

“But you _love_ Voltron!”

“Well, don’t I know that myself!”

“Why did you keep egging him on?”

“ _I don’t know!”_ Lance’s voice turned a high-pitched wail and Shiro felt slight pity.  Lance’s behavior the day before had been very confusing and Shiro was glad that Lance, apparently, had been just as confused. “I think I just wanted to continue hearing his voice or something? And -Pidge stop laughing! His voice is _nice_! Like, before I didn’t actually hear him talk, just giggle to himself about something on his phone, which I now believe are probably horrible meme puns like the ones Hunk adores-”

“Hey, those are _good_ memes, Lance, it’s not my fault you reject puns!” Okay, so, the third party was apparently named Hunk. Fitting name.

-” _Whatever,_ it doesn’t matter because Keith fucking _hates_ me now!” Lance pouted and crossed his arms on the tiny desk provided for every seat, burying his face in his arms. Lance was genuinely upset and Shiro wished he could just _tell_ him that Keith didn’t hate him but _still_ even had a giant crush on him despite their first encounter.

“Lance, you’re so horribly dramatic.”, Katie said and threw her arm over her eyes in a dramatic fashion. She sat between Lance and Hunk and fell back into Hunk’s broad chest who gave a laugh at that. “All you need to do is go talk to him in your next math class and _apologise_.”

Lance lifted his head and gave her a look that clearly expressed how crazy her suggestion seemed to him. “I cannot do that.”

“And why is that?”

“Because the world would end, tornados would form in Europe, earthquakes would split the earth, acid rain would fall from the sky and the sun would expand to burn the planet.”

“You are _unbelieveable._ ”

“Well, what do you want me to say to him?” Lance’s voice was back to the high-pitched tone. Shiro found himself itching to rip open his bag of chocolate and eat it like popcorn but he didn’t want to alert them of his presence. “ _Hey, gorgeous, I’ve been kind-of-but-not-really stalking you for a whole semester everyday and I actually love Voltron but I said I hated it so that you would have a reason to continue talking because your voice is going to appear in my wet dreams for the next three years_?”

“Ew, too much information!” Katie buried her face in her hands.

Shiro had to suppress a snort at that. Usually, he would have gotten quite annoyed because Lance was annoying whenever the topic of flirting or crushes or anything related came up, and also annoyed about _anyone_ talking like that about someone Shiro held so dear to himself, but instead he could only find amusement in the scene. This was like straight out of a horribly cheesy romcom. These two boys were complete morons.

“Yo, can I get through here, please?”

Shiro flinched at the voice directed at him. He had been so into the conversation happening in front of him that he had completely forgotten what a public place they were in. He looked up at a young-looking punk-ish boy with green-dyed hair and nodded. Shiro gathered up his stuff to fold back the table and stood up to fold back his seat and let through the boy. When he passed, Shiro’s eyes finally fell back to the trio who was now looking at him. Whoops. Busted.

Lance looked completely mortified, Hunk very worried, and Katie gave him a look that Shiro recognised o too well. She was _already_ mapping out a plan on how to go about this and for once Shiro wasn’t going to be the one sabotaging her plans but supporting it. He grinned back, faking an innocent demeanor as if he hadn’t just eavesdropped nearly their entire conversation.

“Hey, Katie.”

“Hi, Shiro-”

“How long have you been there?” Lance looked so worried, like he was actually feeling sick because of it. Shiro felt pity. He was way too compassionate for his own good.

“I just sat down, actually.” He lied and settled back into his seat, placing his belongings in his bag for now in case someone else wished to pass.

Lance narrowed his eyes a little, obviously still suspicious. Somehow, Shiro managed not to lose his calm. “How much did you hear?”

Shiro felt the corners of his mouth twitch and he forced his smile to stay innocent instead of turning into a smirk. “Nothing, actually, wasn’t paying attention. Why, what did you guys talk about?”

Lance’s shoulders sagged in relief and he let out a breath he had been holding. “Nothing-”

“Oh, we were actually talking about Lance’s _giant_ crush on-”

“Pidge, _shut up_ !” Lance clasped his hand over Katie’s mouth with his other hand holding her head in place. She struggled against him and most-likely licked his palm if Lance’s loud _Ew!_ was anything to go by when he let her go and wiped his hand on his jeans.

Pidge smirked at him. “I am disappointed, Lancelot, you have five siblings and this still works on you?”

Shiro smirked at that. He might have been an only child himself but he had gotten to know Keith when they were very little and because his family had practically adopted Keith on sight as Keith’s father was so busy working, they had been like siblings ever since.

“Anyway-” Katie started and leaned her arms on the back of her seat to look at Shiro. “Back to the topic at hand. How is Keith?”

If Shiro hadn’t already known about Lance’s crush on Keith then he would have already figured it out through all the hinting that Katie was obviously doing on purpose. But Shiro had the feeling that Katie already knew that Shiro knew. And with the smirk Shiro gave her back Katie knew now that Shiro knew that she knew. “He’s doing fine, just stressed with studying. He really needs some social interaction I think.”

“O really?” Katie cocked an eyebrow and her smirk widened a little. “Well, Hunk, Lance and me were going to the funfair this weekend. You could ask Keith to come along. How about it, guys?” The last part of her speech was obviously directed to the two friends sitting at each her sides, but her gaze stayed locked with Shiro’s in wordless communication.

Lance swallowed audibly and shook his head lightly. “Pidge, I don’t know if-”

“Sure, we’re in!” Hunk had interrupted Lance to speak up and answer on behalf of the both of them. Lance gave him a betrayed glare but Hunk had traded his worried expression for a wide, knowing grin.

Shiro stretched out his hand towards him. “Hunk, right? I’m Shiro. It’s nice to meet you.”

Hunk took his hand and gave it a firm shake. “Likewise.”

Shiro then sat back in his seat, noticing the puzzled, suspicious look Lance was giving him. Shiro knew he wasn’t acting quite like his usual self. Lance had expressed his displeasure clearly and normally Shiro would have noticed and acted accordingly instead of forcing the poor boy into a situation like this. But thankfully the lights of the hall were dimmed, the lecture started and Shiro didn’t have to play pretend anymore.

He ripped open the bag of chocolate and prepared for an agonizing two hours.

 

\--

 

When the lecture was over, Shiro gently took a hold on Katie’s arm as they left the hall, being swiped up by the crowd of students moving towards the exit. He leaned in to her to whisper: “Keith usually sits on the right side of the hall towards the front in the math lectures.”

**Author's Note:**

> After this I am planning to write more about them, too, this series of dorky university love isn't over yet


End file.
